Abstract:
English is an important language. In Indonesia, English is the first foreign
language.English is learned in formal and non formal education. The students
have started learning English from Elementary school until University. However,
the result of learning English have not been satisfactory yet.
The success of English teaching and learning depends on many factors. There
are external and internal factors. One of the internal factors that can affect the
achievement of English is the interest of its subject.
This interest of English subject influenced the students’ achievement in
English. Based on the statement above, the writer would like to find out the
correlation between the interest and the English learning achievement of the
second grade students of SMPN 33 Purworejo in the academic year 2013/2014.
The research population in this study is the second grade students of SMPN 33
purworejo in the academic year 2013/2014. The whole population consists of 234
students. The sample of the research is chosen using simple random technique and
gets 66 students. The data on the students’ interest are collected by using
questionnaire, while the data on the students’ achievement by using
documentation. The data analysis technique includes descriptive and inferential
analysis.
The computer calculation which is using SPSS for windows version 18 shows
that the students’ interest is in the category of very high (Mean=59.43,
Median=59, and SD=6.47) and their English learning achievement is on the
category of fair (Mean=64.59, Median=62, SD=10.24). The result of the
inferential analysis show that r-observed is higher than that of rtable(0.598>0.279).
It is categorized as a medium. It means that there is a medium correlation between
the interest and the English learning achievement.
